Understanding Your Response Data Set (EX)
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About “Understanding Your Response Data Set”
For additional analysis outside of Qualtrics, you can download a data set file for any EmployeeXM project. This data set includes all your survey’s raw response data, including question responses, participant information, and more.
Similar to the Survey Platform, the file can be exported with the Data Table or Legacy option. In EmployeeXM response exports, there are key differences between the data exported in these two options; we highly encourage you to use Data Table.
Columns that Appear in All Exports
While there are many columns that appear in just Data Table or just Legacy exports, there are several that appear in both.
Participant Name, Participant Email, and Parent Unit
The major difference between Legacy and Data Table is the inclusion of identifying information. The participant’s name appears in the Participant Name column in Last name, First name format. The participant’s email address appears in the Participant Email column.
The Parent Unit column contains the location of the participant in your company hierarchy. This will appear as the unit or manager name. This does not appear in Lifecycle or Ad Hoc Employee Research project exports, just Engagement exports.
Question Data
Columns are headed with the question labels (Q1, Q2, etc.) and the beginning lines of the question text. Simple questions (Text Entry, Multiple Choice – Single Answer, etc.) will be contained in one column, but more complex questions (Matrix Table, Side by Side, etc.) will be broken across columns.
Data can be downloaded either as “numeric values” (the coded value of the answer choice) or “choice text” (the text of the question). More information about the options for exporting your data can be found on the Exporting Response Data support page.
If the coding of your choices doesn’t match your expectations, you can always return to the Survey tab to change them and then export your data again. You can also export your survey to Word to retrieve a code book outlining how each choice is coded in the dataset.
Embedded Data
For surveys using Embedded Data in the Survey Flow, Embedded Data information is included.
Randomization Data
If you select the checkbox for Export viewing order for randomized surveys in your More Options menu, you will see randomization columns following your question response data. There will be one column for each randomizer in your survey.
In the example above, the order of the questions was randomized and the columns show the order each question appeared in the sequence. Note that the question numbers are in the headers.
In the example above, one element was randomly presented from a list of three. The columns indicate which element was shown to the respondent by placing a 1 beneath the column labeled for the element presented.

StartDate and EndDate
The StartDate column indicates when the participants first clicked the survey link. The EndDate column indicates when the participants submitted their survey. If the entry is a partial response, this date will indicate the last time the participant interacted with the survey.
Status
The value in the Status column indicates the type of response collected. There are three main possible statuses:
- 32: A normal response
- 36: An imported response
- 40: A possible spam response
Responses are flagged as spam if multiple identical responses are received from the same IP address within a 12-hour period. The similarity of the responses is key so that respondents who are filling out the same survey on the same computer in a short period of time (such as in a lab) are less likely to be flagged. The 12-hour period ensures that for shorter surveys with only so many combinations of response, valid responses aren’t as likely to be flagged as spam if they occurred some time apart from each other.
IPAddress
This column includes the participant’s IP address.
Finished
This column details whether the response was submitted or closed. A “1” or “TRUE” indicates the participant reached an end point in their survey (e.g., hitting the last Next/Submit button, being screened-out with Skip or Branch Logic, etc.). A “0” or “FALSE” indicates the participant left their survey before reaching an end point and the response was instead closed manually or due to session expiration.
ResponseID
The ResponseID is the ID Qualtrics uses to identify each response in the database. This unique identifier is provided as a reference and generally does not have a use in data analysis.
LocationLatitude and LocationLongitude
The location is an approximation determined by comparing the participant’s IP address to a location database. Inside the United States, this data is typically accurate to the city level. Outside the United States, this data is typically only accurate to the country level.
Data Table Export Columns
This section details data only available in the Data Table export. This information will not appear in the Legacy export.
Participant Unique Identifier
This column contains each participant’s unique identifier.
Metadata
The major difference between Data Table and Legacy exports is the inclusion of participant metadata. Any metadata saved with your participants will appear in these columns.
Progress
The Progress column shows the progress a participant made in the survey before finishing. For those marked as “1” or “TRUE” in the Finished column, the Progress is marked 100, regardless of whether they were screened out. For those whose responses are marked “0” or “FALSE,” you will get an exact percentage of how far they got in the survey based on what question they left off on.
Duration
The number of seconds it took the respondent to complete the survey. This is the entire duration of the response; if a respondent stops in the middle of the survey, closes the browser, and comes back another day, that time is counted.
Recorded Date
This column indicates when a survey was recorded in Qualtrics. For users taking surveys online, this date and time will be very similar to End Date. However, for responses that are imported, Recorded Date will often differ from End Date, instead reflecting when you manually uploaded the results, not when the survey taker finished.
Legacy Export Columns
This section details data only available in the Legacy export. This information will not appear in the Data Table export.
PersonID
The PersonID is an ID unique to the user that is not useful for reporting, but that you can use to search for the user in the Participants section or on the Admin page.
Score, Response Set, and Location Accuracy
Scoring is a feature in the Survey Platform and 360, but not Engagement, Ad Hoc Employee Research, or Lifecycle. Response Sets is a feature that is no longer used. Location Accuracy is an estimate of location accuracy.
File Format Differences
Though all file types download the same data fields described above, each features a layout that may be slightly different. These are much the same as the the file formats available for the Survey Platform, so read the support page on different file types for Survey Platform exports for more detailed information.